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Halftime Shows with a hefty price tag
Pregnant Rihanna delivered a sensational halftime show on Sunday night during the American Football grand final: the Super Bowl. Curious how much artists are paid for their 30-minute performance? The answer is nothing. The NFL covers all production costs, so performers need not worry about funding their own travel and logistics. Here are the Super Bowl halftime performances with the highest production budgets.
Pregnant Rihanna managed to put on a sensational halftime show on Sunday night during the American Football grand final: the Super Bowl. Wondering how many artists get paid for their performance in the famous 30 minutes of rest? Well, nothing at all. However, the production costs of the performances are financed by the NFL, so you do not have to fly business class at your own expense. High time to list the Super Bowl performances with the most production costs.
Dr. Dre
The 2022 performance brought together some of the biggest names in rap and hip-hop. For example, Mary J Blige, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg together on the Super Bowl stage. It was estimated that the production costs for the show were € 18.7 million. Dr. Dre has this amount € 6.5 million of his own money invested. A total of 117 million people watched the legends live.
The Weeknd
The 2021 American Football final was headlined by a performance by The Weeknd. Despite the corona measures, the artist seized the opportunity to give a memorable performance. Although this did require a financial investment on his part. The 33-year-old singer spent no less than € 5 million of his net worth to the show. The total cost of production, according to sources, amounts to approx € 15.9 million. The millions would include the many effects during the show. For example, The Weeknd performed in front of a Las Vegas backdrop, in an illuminated mirror maze and was at his closing number Blinding Lights almost the entire field filled with background dancers in the same clothes.
Jennifer Lopez & Shakira
At first, Jennifer Lopez wasn't thrilled with the idea of sharing the 2020 Super Bowl Half Time Show with Shakira. The women had a total of 12 minutes to sing, which they decided to divide into 6 minutes each. The stars were joined on stage by Bad Bunny, J Balvin and Emme Muñiz, Lopez's then 11-year-old daughter. To create a stage, NFL paid approximately € 12 million. Fun fact: Shakira's birthday was on the day of the performance. There are worse ways to celebrate your birthday...
Lady Gaga
In 2017, the singer made an unforgettable impression in true Gaga style with her arrival on stage. Wearing a safety harness, she jumped from the roof of Houston's NRG Stadium. This just kidding most likely also drove up production costs somewhat, which amount to approx € 9 million. This is nothing when you consider that the advertising revenue for the entire competition is small € be 450 million.
Prince
Prince's 2007 performance is considered by many to be the best Halftime Show of all time. The artist did mash-ups of Bob Dylan's “All Along the Watchtower,” Queen's “We Will Rock You” and Foo Fighters' “Best of You” with his own songs. He closed the performance with Purple Rain including an epic guitar solo, in - yes - the (purple) rain. All this together cost NFL approximately €11 million.
